WHAT'S SPECIAL ABOUT AUGUST?
THE EDITOR WONDERING ABOUT THE TITLE
by Maximius Flavius

FROM ROSTRA TO NAVICHAT
JOT THINKING ALOUD
by Jot Ariston

One comment that we often got from players were "where are all the people?" Sure enough, we had built the city but not allowed for people to see each other in the space. When walking around in the space of S.P.Q.R., one got the distinct impression that the city was completely empty. The cheat that it was early in the morning before anyone was up did not really work, and for the most part players were missing a vital aspect of online games: other people!
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RECENT INNOVATIONS OF THE OLYMPOS
FROM JOT'S DEVELOPMENT DIARY
by Jot Ariston

I developed a new way to get an image into the body of a page. Previously one had to go to one's image gallery, which is still in the "old system", upload the image there, and then copy the special image tag then go back to a post and paste it in. Now one can add an image "inline."
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SCRIBE CHASING FOR ROMAN ARTIFACTS
ROME, THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS
Rome, by Diantha Livius

I believe the title of "The City That Never Sleeps" would fit well in our own Rome! It looks as if we've all been busy here. It is fun to read your posts, ideas and suggestions and watch the city grow in wonderful ways!
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Having been a very dynamic group in Rome almost from its beginning, the Schola Linguae Latinae (SLL) has been continuously growing ever since. Apparently, there is a need to learn Latin or at least to get some knowledge of the language and so, SLL is the second largest group in Now that many more groups have started issuing contests, the fun of this one seems to have faded a little, but we thought it might be a good thing to re-issue a contest in the form of a Latin Grammar Test To Go, in which you can test yourself on a certain level of the Latin Language.
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Arturus Rex has grown in the past two months. Members have been promoted in all different categories. One of our newest RP has been a success and has brought attention to this newly revived group. It is a self-styled fiction that brings adventure, conflict, moral dilemmas, love, betrayal, battle and much more together into a quest of treasures from the sacred Isle of Avalon. It is a Role-Playing adventure based on the 6th-century bard Taliesin's epic poem, Preddiu Annwn, but is not limited to a single object quest. There will be many different treasures to choose from.
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ETRVRIA, although its members are quite few, is still going strong! Next to the steady input of all there is to know about the masters of Tyrrhenian Land and Sea, Bronze and Iron, Gold Teeth and Diamond Divination, the Cradle of Roman Culture, we have some more to offer as well.
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AN EPIC AND A GROUP
THE SHORT HISTORY OF EPYLLION
Athens, group Epyllion, by Nikolaos Cleomenes

Athens, our city, has had the opportunity to developed its hall of groups by the creation of the academic group named Sparta, in the early days of May, and finally to reach the fifteenth group in late June, with a group named Epyllion. Epyllion gives the opportunity for further exploration of your capabilities of cooperation with other authors’ group scenario development and also the competence of a Role Play scenario without rules of advancing progress.
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SCRIBAL AND OTHER MYSTERIES SOLVED
IN EGYPT, THINGS COULDN'T BE MERRIER
Egypt, by AzureEyes Ramesses

The most exciting news to come out of Egypt has got to be the appointment of our newest Scribe, Hapshetsut Nebet. Here's what some members had to say about her appointment.
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FLASH FROM BABYLON
THE POOR REPORTER STILL LOOKING FOR THE CUP
Babylon, by Leah Enkidu

Flash! I traveled to Celtia for their Lughnasadh Celebration, for those that weren't there you missed some great races and Parties!! MAX was there to torment me as usual.
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SEE HOW THE BLACK SEA FLOODS
NEW GRAPHICS ADD TO THE EFFECT
Babylon, group Flooding of the Black Sea, by Apiladey ApilSin

In about 10,000 BC, there was a short return to an Ice Age called the Younger Dryas Period. During a typical Ice Age, water in its liquid form becomes much more rare because it is tied up in glaciers and the polar ice caps. The group is now ready to start roleplaying and more info is located at The Flooding of the Black Sea group. The graphics may take some time to load, but there's plenty to read at the top to keep you entertained, and are darn-well worth it.
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CELTS GO NUTS WITH LUGHNASADH
THE FESTIVAL DECLARED A SUCCESS
Celtia, by CathBran Niall

From near the end of July until August 3rd Celtia celebrated “Lughnasadh,” the last holiday of the Celtic year. (Also see Vortigern Aedui's article in H & A section.) On August 1st thru the 3rd we held the Festival of Lughnasadh proper. There were contests of skill & strength as well as a Bardic contest & a berry-picking event for nature lovers.
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GERMANICS GO WORLD-WIDE
NEW ACADEMIC GROUPS ALSO UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Germania, by Yngvildr Scylding

Summer in Germania, still - and a summer of historic dimensions! Unfortunately the oppressing heat has the effect of slowing down your German Germania scribe big time, so it is only good that my colleague Thiudareiks Gunthigg did an excellent job whilst I can do nothing but hope for cooler weather.
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FROM MYSTICAL TOWNS TO LLAMA FARMS
TOURS AND WORKSHOPS IN THE ANCIENT AMERICA
Machu Picchu, by ChanChan Tupac

The following tours have been started in Machu Picchu! Tours are all-inclusive, and optionals should be booked in advance.
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THE PASSION OF PERPETUA
by Lucius Aelius

The martyrdom of Blandina is presented in the Historia Ecclesiastica of Eusebius, who quotes from an encyclical letter written by the Christian communities in Lyons and Vienne, recounting the persecutions which occurred there in AD 177. It was a time of plague and war, and there was a xenophobic prejudice against the Christians of these towns, many of whom were immigrants from Asia Minor, where Cybele (Mater Magna) was venerated.
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ORIGINS, FORMS AND USE OF MITHRAISM, IN COMPARISON TO CHRISTIANITY
by Tanaquil Sergius

The cult of this god is one of the most popular known to Antiquity, both esoteric and exoteric. The cult, being of origin from the Near East, had numerous worshippers during the time of the Roman Empire: initiates and non-initiates. In the 3rd and 4th century A.D., Mithracism managed to maintain next to the fast growing and very popular movement of Christianity.
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SPARTAN NATIONAL CHARACTER: AN APOLOGY
by Drakus Domitius

The History of the Peloponnesian War written by Thucydides stands as possibly the most famous work in the western historical tradition. Thucydides himself stated that he wrote his history to be "a possession for all time." Thucydides' work has stood through the centuries since its conception as a monument of the man who penned it. Thucydides has received great fame and adulation as the first critical historian. Recent years have seen an increase in criticism of the author and his account of the Peloponnesian War.
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THE ORIGINS OF THE COW GODDESS
by Hapshetsut Nebet

The goddess Hathor was one of the pre-eminent divinities of ancient Egypt. Her origins are obscure but she came to be an important figure within the Egyptian pantheon. The name Hathor was used in Greco-Roman times and seems appropriate to use here as this is the name she has been most commonly referred to by Egyptologists both now and in the recent past.
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BACK TO THE BEGINNING: SUMERIA PART II
by Leah Enkidu

THE NUPTIALS OF LUGH - A BRIEF HISTORY OF LUGHNASADH
by Vortigern Aedui

Lughnasadh, a festival that has recently ended in Celtia, was a sacred harvest festival celebrated by the Celtic peoples of both Insular and Continental Celts. The festival itself included bilberry picking, a ritual relating to abundance of the harvest, as well as a series of Olympic style games for young men to prove their virility. Lughnasadh was also a time when many hand-fasting, or temporary marriages, took place. The couples involved in the marriage were only required to stay together until the festival of Beltane, where at that time they could separate or renew their marriage for another half a year.
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THE GERMANIC TRIBES ENTER HISTORY: 100 BC - 300 AD
by Thiudareiks Gunthigg

In 113 BC, the Roman consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo led his army into what is now Carinthia to confront a new people who had overrun the Romans’ Celtic allies, the Taurisci. For several centuries before this, peoples speaking the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family had been expanding south, west and east out of northern Germany and southern Denmark and making their way down the valleys of the Rhine, Elbe and Oder. With the Romans rapidly expanding their dominion in the opposite direction, it was only a matter of time before there was a series of encounters between the Germanic tribes and the Roman Empire.
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VIKING NAVIGATION AND THE "MAGIC CRYSTAL COMPASS"
by Maria Marius

It is historically well accepted that the Vikings were accomplished seafarers and skilled navigators who steered by the stars. The evidence of their sailing prowess in the proximate waters of northern Europe is indisputable. But the Icelandic sagas state that the Vikings sailed from Bergen (on the coast of Norway) to Iceland then continued west to Greenland and even further. Such voyages require deep water navigation out of the sight of land and occurred between 700 and 1000 A.D. -- well before the magnetic compass reached Europe from China.
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THE FIGHT FOR THE ROSETTA STONE
by Kore Harmonidos

Zahi Hawass Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt threw down the gauntlet upon his arrival in London by announcing that Egypt would apply for the return of the Rosetta Stone. After the furor over Nefertiti’s bust the director of the Berlin Museum, Dieter Wildung, and his archaeologist wife have been denied permission to excavate in Egypt now and in the future and told no Egyptian official will cooperate with them in any capacity.
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AIFA'S ARCHAEOLOGY NOTES
by Aifa Niafer

A construction crew digging near the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth discovered a cistern that might have been built by the crusaders 1000 years ago. Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority plan to excavate the site to learn more about the underground reservoir which is close to 40 feet deep in some places. The cistern was discovered while workers were tearing out the foundations of a mosque built without authorization next to the basilica.
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WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT HOMER?
FACT AND FICTION ABOUT THE FIRST POET
by Maia Nestor

Who was Homer, or Homeros, as he was known by the ancients? Where was he from? When did he compose? Was he even the author of both the Iliad and the Odyssey, as the Greeks believed, or even one of them? And did the Trojan War, the subject, at least tangentially, of his two great poems, ever even happen?
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FINDING A STORY
MARIA'S ROLEPLAY HELPDESK CONTINUES
by Maria Marius

As I have stated in an earlier edition of the Acta Diurna, to write an interactive story (or to do roleplay), you need a group, a story and a character. I've already delved into the mysteries of developing a character. So maybe it's time to discuss creating a story. The entire point of interactive writing is that you do it with other people. We will assume, for the sake of this article, that you have some folks who want to work with you on a story. So. Now you need a plot or story line.
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SOCRATES THE PECULIAR
WINNING ESSAY OF THE PHILOS SOPHIA GROUP ESSAY CONTEST
by Nikolaos Cleomenes

Socrates used a word, which the Athenians used for him, and he announced himself with that term: “I am most peculiar person and I am driving men to perplexity”. (Plato, Theaetetus 149a “But I assure you it is true; only do not tell on me to the others; for it is not known that I possess this art. But other people, since they do not know it, do not say this of me, but say that I am a most eccentric person and drive men to distraction. Have you heard that also?”
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HOW THE CHAINSAW CAME TO STAY
A SEMI-DIVINE COLUMN
by Cornellia Cornelius

It’s that time again. Time for ACTA and Max has been reminding me to write an article and has even offered me lots of suggestions as he continues to remind me. He suggested I write about the times I've smacked him. - Hmmmm... he said an article, not a book, so that's out of the question.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENTWORLDS
PART IV
by Heraklia Aelius

On March 31, 2001, hundreds of ancient history enthusiasts world-wide woke up to an Internet without AncientSites and had to figure out what to do with themselves. The “AncientSites Diaspora” began from the final “lights-out” of the site the day before.
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TREE SIGNS OF THE CELTS
SUBTITLE
by Senenmut Hatshepsut

The ancient Celts used to give their newborn babies the sign of a tree. What’s your tree, and are you like it ? Find out below!
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